Landlady’s anger over ‘useless’ virus advice
A NORTH Manchester pub voluntarily closed to undergo a deep clean after a customer reported they had tested positive for Covid-19.
Now the landlady of The Shiredale in Collyhurst, Debbie Thompson, slammed authorities - particularly the NHS Test and Trace service.
She says she called them begging for advice, but claims none was forthcoming. Debbie says she decided to act herself by closing the pub.
After a customer, who had spent Saturday night in the pub, called Debbie on Wednesday night to confirm they had tested positive, she called NHS Test and Trace, Public Health England and Manchester council’s environmental health department to ask what she should do next.
“I rang them all and not one could tell me what procedure I should follow,” she said.
Debbie, 40, added: “There are no published guidelines on whether we should shut the pub or how long we should close if a customer tests positive for coronavirus. So on Thursday morning, we decided to close the pub completely and we did a deep clean.
“We decided to re-open at 3pm and carry on as normal. I’ve called all the customers who were here on Saturday - there were 20 or 25 of them - to tell them.
“Only the (council) environmental health called us back and they said we’ve done all we possibly could and they are happy with what we’ve done - even if we’ve done it off our own back. They didn’t ask for the list of customers - just the details of the person who had tested positive.”
The customer who tested positive - one of Debbie’s friends - was at home with flu-like symptoms, she said.
Debbie added: “I was running around like a headless chicken. I didn’t know what to do.
“In the end, I just decided I couldn’t open and contact all the people anyway. I thought that was the decent thing. NHS Test and Trace is useless.”
A spokesman for Manchester council confirmed they had been contacted by Ms Thompson - and that she had followed correct protocols.
The M.E.N. has contacted the Department of Health and Social Care for a response.